redd

A spawning nest made by a fish.

Noun

  1. A spawning nest made by a fish.
    • 2007, Michael Klesius, Fishes' Riches, National Geographic (March 2007), 32, A female chinook salmon digs her redd, or nest, prior to spawning in Oregon's John Day River.

Origin

Origin obscure, possibly from the act of the fish scooping, clearing out a spawning place, see redd above.

Forms

redds

Verb dialectal, obsolete

  1. To free from entanglement.
  2. To free from embarrassment.
  3. To fix boundaries.
  4. To comb hair.
  5. To separate combatants.
  6. To settle, usually a quarrel.
  7. To tidy up, clear away.
  8. To clean, tidy up, to put in order.
    • I've got to redd the place before your mother gets back.

Origin

Fusion of Middle English reden (“to clean up, to clear”) and redden (“to save, rescue, deliver, rid, free, clear”). The former is from Old English ġerǣdan (“to put in order, arrange, prepare”), from Proto-West Germanic *garaidijan, from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaną (“to arrange”); the latter, from Old English hreddan (“to save, deliver, recover, rescue”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan, from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną. More at rid and ready. The Scottish and Northern English senses (especially 3.5 “tidy up, clear away”) are likely from Old Norse ryðja (“to clear, free, empty”), from Proto-Germanic *rudjaną, having conflated with the native word reden (see above); if so, that would make them related to Danish and Norwegian Bokmål rydde (“to clear, tidy”). The Pennsylvania (Dutch English) sense is from Middle Low German redden, cognate with Dutch redden (“to save, rescue”), both...

Forms

redds redding redd redded red

Derived

outredd outred redd up

Verb dialectal, form of

  1. simple past and past participle of rede
  2. simple past and past participle of read
    • The Works of John Knox (1514–72), published 1841

Origin

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.